Skip to content ↓

The Purposes of the Heart

Articles Collection cover image

I want to do the right things. I want to do the right things for the right reasons. In fact, I want to do the best things for the best reasons, the highest things for the highest reasons. Sometimes I know I do this. Sometimes I know I don’t. Most of the time I’m just not sure.

Too often I don’t know why I do what I do, at least not all the way to the roots. I see the desire to glorify God but when I dig deeper, I see the desire to glorify self down there as well. Or sometimes the desire to be known or noticed or appreciated is there at the surface but as I shovel down I see a genuine desire to please God as well. It’s a tricky, deceptive thing, the human heart. Exasperating at times.

It’s not tricky to God, of course. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” The Lord sees and the Lord knows not only what I do but why I do it. He is not the least bit confused. The proverb is true, of course, but as with all proverbs it is not universally applicable. At times the way of this man is not right in his own eyes and at times the way is opaque. There are so many times that I just don’t know why I do what I do. Is it for me or is it for God? How much is for me and how much is for God?

Sometimes I talk it out with God. “You say to do this, so I’m going to do it. But you also say to do it selflessly and silently and I don’t think my motives here are completely pure. I think I want to be noticed and appreciated for it. So I’m just going to go ahead and do it, because I believe you want me to and I believe it’s right. And I’ll trust you to work it for good. And I’ll ask you to forgive me even now for whatever part of me wants to be glorified for it.”

I believe that is a prayer God hears and heeds. I have to. And I have to believe that God is pleased, delighted even, with the part of me, however much it is, that genuinely wants to be unnoticed so he can be seen and known and glorified.

It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God (1 Cor. 4).


  • Crash and Burn

    When Christians Crash and Burn

    The pictures quickly made their way around the world—pictures of an aircraft lying upside down in the snow just beyond runway 23 at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. On February 17, Delta flight 4819 landed hard, shearing off the right wing and flipping over before finally sliding to a stop. Remarkably, despite the crash and subsequent…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 24)

    A La Carte: Wokeness as a tax / The religion of wellness / Freckles, thigh gaps, and beauty / The 50 most edifying films / If I have matching dishes but not love / The Bible and sexuality / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    Every now and again I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer from Grace Fellowship Church. I do this because there are few examples of pastoral prayers online and I thought these may serve to inspire themes, passages, or ideas as other pastors and elders prepare to lead their churches in prayer. Please…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 22)

    A La Carte: In case I die unexpectedly / The daily midlife crisis / Anora and the end of #MeToo / Building the habit of family worship / We are not Númenóreans / Iain Murray / and more.

  • The Future of New Calvinism

    The Future of New Calvinism

    I was intrigued by Aaron Renn’s recent article The Maturation of New Calvinism. His thesis is that “New Calvinism has shifted from an ‘All-Star team’ model designed to exert influence over the broader evangelical world to a post-superstar model that primarily serves its own community. This represents the maturity of the movement, perhaps putting it…